Apicbase vs Back Office vs Crunchtime vs Fourth

Apicbase is a cloud back-of-house platform for large multi-site foodservice businesses. Back Office is restaurant accounting, food cost and payroll software with a service team attached, sold by Buyers Edge Platform to independents, multi-concept groups and franchises in the US and Canada. Crunchtime is a suite of restaurant operations software for multi-unit brands, covering inventory and food cost, AI sales forecasting, labour scheduling, operational checklists and food safety, staff training, and kitchen display screens. Fourth is a cloud suite for restaurant and hospitality operators covering workforce management, inventory and purchasing, payroll and HR, and analytics. All four are listed under Multi-Unit & Enterprise Restaurant Operations. Where the profiles show a difference, it is in price, audience and platforms.

Key differences

  • price

    The only starting price published is Back Office's: USD 199 per month. Apicbase, Crunchtime and Fourth do not publish a starting price.

  • audience

    Audience differs between the profiles. Listed by one product alone: Apicbase: Multi-unit restaurant groups; Back Office: Independent restaurants; Crunchtime: Multi-unit restaurant chains; Fourth: Multi-location restaurant operators.

  • platforms

    Platform support differs. Apicbase: Web, iOS, Android; Back Office: Web; Crunchtime: Web, iOS, Android; Fourth: Web, iOS, Android.

  • countries covered

    Country coverage differs. Apicbase names 5 countries, Back Office names 2 countries, Crunchtime names 3 countries and Fourth names 4 countries. 1 country appears in every list.

  • integrations

    Apicbase names 21 integrations, Back Office names 31 integrations, Crunchtime names 36 integrations and Fourth names 25 integrations. 2 partners appear in every list.

  • company background

    Headquarters: Apicbase, Antwerp, Belgium; Back Office, Littleton, United States; Crunchtime, Boston, United States; Fourth, Austin, United States.

Side by side

Apicbase vs Back Office vs Crunchtime vs Fourth: side-by-side comparison from published vendor information
FieldApicbaseBack OfficeCrunchtimeFourth
What it isApicbase is a cloud back-of-house platform for large multi-site foodservice businesses.Back Office is restaurant accounting, food cost and payroll software with a service team attached, sold by Buyers Edge Platform to independents, multi-concept groups and franchises in the US and Canada.Crunchtime is a suite of restaurant operations software for multi-unit brands, covering inventory and food cost, AI sales forecasting, labour scheduling, operational checklists and food safety, staff training, and kitchen display screens.Fourth is a cloud suite for restaurant and hospitality operators covering workforce management, inventory and purchasing, payroll and HR, and analytics.
Best forMulti-unit restaurant groups; Hotel chains and hotel F&B; Central kitchens and caterers; Ghost kitchen and meal-kit operatorsIndependent restaurants; Multi-concept restaurant groups; Franchisors and franchiseesMulti-unit restaurant chains; Franchise brands and franchisees; Quick-service and casual-dining brands with busy kitchens; Operators focused on food cost controlMulti-location restaurant operators; Enterprise and quick-service chains; Hotels, bars and retail; Operators wanting workforce and inventory in one vendor
Pricing modelQuote onlySubscription per locationQuote onlyQuote only
Starting priceNot publishedUSD 199 per monthNot publishedNot published
Free planNot publishedNoNot publishedNot published
Free trialNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedNot published
ContractNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedSet by the order form (initial term not stated in the terms)
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWebWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android
CountriesBelgium, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United StatesCanada, United StatesMexico, United Kingdom, United StatesAustralia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States
LanguagesNot publishedEnglishNot publishedNot published
Number of integrations21313625
CertificationsGDPR, SOC 2 Type 2Not publishedSOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2ISO 9001
Security practicesEncryption in transit and at rest, daily backups, Hosted on AWS, SSO, multi-factor authentication and role-based permissionsNot publishedDisaster recovery with stated 15-minute RPO and 2-hour RTO, HTTPS, multi-factor authentication, encryption in transit and at restCloud hosting in US, EMEA and APAC data centres built to Tier 3 standards with zero-trust network design, Data processing agreement published
Founded2017Not publishedNot publishedNot published
HeadquartersAntwerp, BelgiumLittleton, United StatesBoston, United StatesAustin, United States
OwnerNot publishedBuyers Edge PlatformMerged with QSR Automations, LLC (announced June 2025); both are backed by investment firm Battery VenturesMarlin Equity Partners (majority owner as of the 2019 acquisition; Insight Partners minority)
Last reviewed29 September 202629 September 202629 September 202629 September 2026

Integrations

Named by all four

  • Revel
  • Toast

Named only by Apicbase

  • Aloha Cloud by NCR Voyix
  • Bidfood UK
  • Brakes
  • Deliverect
  • Epos Now
  • Foodics
  • Goodtill
  • Makro Netherlands
  • Sligro
  • Transgourmet Germany
  • Vectron
  • Vita Mojo

Named only by Back Office

  • Brunswick
  • Dinerware
  • Future POS
  • Genius
  • GoTab
  • HarborTouch
  • Heartland
  • Linga
  • Aloha
  • NorthStar
  • OnePOS
  • OrderCounter
and 6 more
  • RPower
  • Skytab
  • SpotOn
  • Sync POS
  • Tab it
  • Union

Named only by Crunchtime

  • ADP
  • Appetize
  • Baldor
  • Ben E. Keith
  • CBS Northstar
  • Ceridian
  • FranPOS
  • Great Plains
  • Harri
  • InfoGenesis Cloud
  • JD Edwards
  • Lawson
and 10 more
  • NetSuite
  • Paychex
  • Paycom
  • Paycor
  • Paylocity
  • Performance Food Group
  • QuickBooks Online
  • Rippling
  • Ultipro
  • Workday

Named only by Fourth

  • BlueCats
  • CareerBuilder
  • Cooper-Atkins
  • Indeed
  • ITD Food Safety
  • Monster
  • PAR POS (formerly Brink)
  • Restaurant Manager
  • Snagajob
  • Lightspeed U Series (formerly Upserve)
  • Xenial IRIS

Which to choose

Apicbase

Choose Apicbase if you fit its listed audience: Multi-unit restaurant groups; Hotel chains and hotel F&B; Central kitchens and caterers.

Less suited to: Single-site or very small businesses. The entry Growth plan is described as starting from 5 outlets, and the vendor positions the product for large and enterprise food businesses.

Back Office

Choose Back Office if you fit its listed audience: Independent restaurants; Multi-concept restaurant groups; Franchisors and franchisees.

Crunchtime

Choose Crunchtime if your business matches one of the audiences it is listed for: Multi-unit restaurant chains; Franchise brands and franchisees; Quick-service and casual-dining brands with busy kitchens.

Weaker fit: Single-site independents. The vendor describes its customers as multi-unit restaurant brands, publishes no small-business plan, and sells only through demos.

Fourth

Choose Fourth if you fit its listed audience: Multi-location restaurant operators; Enterprise and quick-service chains; Hotels, bars and retail.

What we could not confirm

Apicbase

  • Any price or per-outlet fee (quote only)
  • Contract length and renewal terms
  • Free trial or free plan
  • Official list of countries where it is sold and supported
  • Interface languages of the product (site is in English, Dutch, French, German)
  • Employee count and registration number
  • Funding after the 2021 Series A
  • Names of the 9 financial and accounting integrations (none found on the vendor's site)
  • Names of the native mobile apps in the app stores

Back Office

  • Contract minimum term and renewal
  • Founding year and employee count
  • Security certifications and hosting
  • Mobile apps
  • Which integrations are available for which plan or in Canada
  • Bookkeeping service pricing (listed as coming soon)
  • Exact headquarters (site data says Littleton, Colorado; legal terms list Waltham, Massachusetts)

Crunchtime

  • Any price, plan tier or free trial (demo only)
  • Contract length and renewal terms
  • Founding year (not stated on the vendor's site)
  • Employee count and funding
  • Official list of supported countries and languages
  • Whether the integrations page shows every integration, and which POS work with which product
  • Names of the mobile apps in the app stores beyond Teamworx

Fourth

  • Any price; conditions of the free year of HotSchedules promotion
  • Legal entity name and registration (several Fourth companies appear in the terms)
  • Current ownership (the latest ownership event stated is the 2019 Marlin acquisition)
  • Initial contract term and minimum length
  • Interface languages and the full list of countries served
  • Fourth iQ app platforms and availability dates
  • Employee count
  • Accounting integrations
  • Customer counts differ between pages (120,000 locations on the homepage; 15,000 customers across 100,000 sites on the about page)

Go further

Apicbase profileBack Office profileCrunchtime profileFourth profile

Other comparisons with these products

Sources

Facts on this page come from the pages below. Prices and features change, so confirm with each vendor before you buy.

Apicbase, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Homepage: positioning, modules, AI, security summaryhttps://get.apicbase.com
  2. Plans, add-onshttps://get.apicbase.com/pricing-plans/
  3. Company: Belgium headquartershttps://get.apicbase.com/about/
  4. Offices in Antwerp and New Yorkhttps://get.apicbase.com/contact/
  5. Customer segments and exampleshttps://get.apicbase.com/customers/
  6. Case studies and countrieshttps://get.apicbase.com/cases/
  7. Security, SOC 2, apps, APIhttps://get.apicbase.com/trust-security-compliance/
  8. Allergen, HACCP, traceabilityhttps://get.apicbase.com/food-safety-and-compliance/
  9. Production planninghttps://get.apicbase.com/production-planning/
  10. Internal orderinghttps://get.apicbase.com/internal-ordering/
  11. Menu planninghttps://get.apicbase.com/menu-planning/
  12. Demand forecastinghttps://get.apicbase.com/demand-forecasting-software-restaurant/
  13. Carbon trackinghttps://get.apicbase.com/carbon-footprint-tracking-software/
  14. MCP / AI assistantshttps://get.apicbase.com/mcp/
  15. Mobile counting app, offlinehttps://get.apicbase.com/mobile-counting/
  16. POS integration directoryhttps://partners.apicbase.com/integrations/pos
  17. Supplier integration directoryhttps://partners.apicbase.com/integrations/suppliers
  18. Page discoveryhttps://get.apicbase.com/sitemap_index.xml
  19. Series A, founders, founding year, early customershttps://tech.eu/2021/05/19/antwerp-based-hospitality-tech-apicbase-cooks-up-e4-million-in-series-a-round/

Back Office, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Homepagehttps://bepbackoffice.com/
  2. Packages and priceshttps://bepbackoffice.com/pricing/
  3. Integrations listhttps://bepbackoffice.com/integrations/
  4. POS integration categoryhttps://bepbackoffice.com/blog/integration-types/point-of-sale/
  5. Company, parenthttps://bepbackoffice.com/about-us/
  6. Service modelhttps://bepbackoffice.com/why-back-office/
  7. Accounting featureshttps://bepbackoffice.com/solutions/accounting/
  8. Food cost featureshttps://bepbackoffice.com/solutions/food-cost-management/
  9. Payroll featureshttps://bepbackoffice.com/solutions/payroll/
  10. Franchise fithttps://bepbackoffice.com/franchise-restaurants/
  11. Support hourshttps://bepbackoffice.com/faqs/
  12. Customer exampleshttps://bepbackoffice.com/case-studies/
  13. Legal entityhttps://bepbackoffice.com/terms-and-conditions-operations/
  14. Canadian sitehttps://bepbackoffice.com/ca/

Crunchtime, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Homepage: suite and navigationhttps://www.crunchtime.com
  2. Suite overviewhttps://www.crunchtime.com/suite-overview
  3. Company, offices, leadership, customershttps://www.crunchtime.com/about-us
  4. Inventory featureshttps://www.crunchtime.com/inventory-management
  5. Labour featureshttps://www.crunchtime.com/labor-and-scheduling
  6. Compliance ruleshttps://www.crunchtime.com/labor-and-scheduling/labor-law-compliance
  7. Teamworx apphttps://www.crunchtime.com/labor-and-scheduling/employee-scheduling-app
  8. Ops executionhttps://www.crunchtime.com/operations-execution
  9. Temperature monitoringhttps://www.crunchtime.com/ops-execution/temp-monitoring
  10. Kitchen displayhttps://www.crunchtime.com/kitchen
  11. Kitchen hardwarehttps://www.crunchtime.com/kitchen/hardware
  12. Host producthttps://www.crunchtime.com/host
  13. Insightshttps://www.crunchtime.com/crunchtime-insights
  14. Learning managementhttps://www.crunchtime.com/learning-and-development
  15. Integration listhttps://www.crunchtime.com/integrations
  16. Security and auditshttps://www.crunchtime.com/security
  17. Customershttps://www.crunchtime.com/our-customers
  18. Newshttps://www.crunchtime.com/press
  19. Merger with QSR Automationshttps://www.crunchtime.com/press/qsr-automations-agrees-to-merge-with-crunchtime
  20. Battery Ventures backing (press)https://www.builtinboston.com/articles/crunchtime-qsr-automations-merger-20250618
  21. Support hourshttps://www.crunchtime.com/support-policy
  22. Services and onboardinghttps://www.crunchtime.com/services

Fourth, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Homepage: positioning, 120,000 locations claimhttps://www.fourth.com/
  2. Company overview, customer claimshttps://www.fourth.com/company/about
  3. Offices and support numbershttps://www.fourth.com/company/contact
  4. HotSchedules features, apps, promotionhttps://www.fourth.com/product/hotschedules
  5. MacromatiXhttps://www.fourth.com/product/macromatix
  6. Workforce management featureshttps://www.fourth.com/solution/workforce-management-software
  7. Inventory featureshttps://www.fourth.com/solution/inventory-management
  8. Fourth iQ and named customershttps://www.fourth.com/solution/ai-intro
  9. Integration partnershttps://www.fourth.com/partner/integrations
  10. Renewal, fee changes, Fuego serviceshttps://www.fourth.com/legal/general-terms-and-conditions
  11. Hosting and securityhttps://www.fourth.com/legal/fourth-hosting-data-security
  12. Press releases: ISO 9001https://www.fourth.com/company/press-room
  13. 2019 acquisition, founding year, officeshttps://www.marlinequity.com/news/marlin-completes-the-acquisition-of-hotschedules-and-fourth/
  14. Data processing agreement (listed in sitemap)https://www.fourth.com/legal/data-processing-agreement
  15. System requirements page (listed in sitemap, not read)https://www.fourth.com/legal/minimum-system-requirements-for-all-systems